Keeping the "Social" in Social Media"

Photo courtesy of @WriterJaxAt the recent Western Mass Tweetup held at the Apollo Grille in Easthampton, folks enjoyed a special beer on tap, complete with the Tweetup's very own tap handle!

My wife Kelly was recently chosen as the winner of a VIP package to attend the TwitterQueens Social Media Boot Camp. This event, held in New York City, was an inaugural event for the TwitterQueens, an up and coming social media consulting group created by three realtors who use Twitter and other forms of social media to market themselves and their business. Kelly won this package, complete with an admission to the conference and two nights' stay at the Grand Hyatt NYC - all for simply tweeting why the TwitterQueens should pick her!

In the world of Twitter and social media, conferences and meetups like these are not uncommon.

Twitter was initially created as way for people to communicate in less than 140 characters, answering the question "What are you doing?" Recently, there's been quite an explosion of hype bringing Twitter to a new forefront in the social media world. Now, many different websites are available to help Twitter users manage their followers.

The idea of social media and social networking now go far beyond the idea of groups (such as on Facebook) where users congregate based on a common interest they share. Sites like Twitter bring people together in a virtual sense online, but they often host gatherings to meet up in the physical world as well! While this is still quite a new concept for many, those who choose to participate are often enlightened by the experience.

It is very common to for social media networking sites to have a local focus, common to the geographic region, as well as particular interest groups. Sports fanatics, wine connoisseurs, book clubs or foodies may congregate together for a "Tweetup" to share their interests with others in the area - all because they discovered each other on Twitter! There are many ways of connecting online first to see what kinds of groups are available in your region.

The following websites are an excellent resource for individuals interested in regional social media gatherings:

http://www.ning.com - A place to socially connect to people that share a similar interest or geographic region. Users can join the many groups already in existence or create their own social media circle.

http://www.brightkite.com - A place to find connect and locate people in the area, britekite allows users to specify their location. Photos and text can be shared here as well.

http://www.meetup.com - A place to schedule and find physical meetups by common interest or regional groups.

Those in the Western Massachusetts/Northern Connecticut area can search hashtag #wmtu on Twitter to learn about area tweetups. There also is an official website for "Western Mass Tweetups". Area resident Paul Monaco recently attended his first tweetup and writes a great blog about his experience - check it out here . Jaclyn Stevenson, area journalist, also talks about her recent tweetup experience.

Please check out my other articles I have previously written in this series on Social Media and Twitter: